Dine Out Boston, the new “Restaurant Week,” snuck up on us just as quickly as the first day of spring. As I sat down at La Morra restaurant in Brookline this week, I couldn’t help but overhear the table next to me exclaiming, “we didn’t know it was Restaurant Week, already!” Clearly, they were excited (as was I).
And fortunately, La Morra turned out to be a great pick for my first Dine Out Boston experience. The Northern Italian-style restaurant located in Brookline gives guests a real bang for their buck.
For starters, most of the Dine Out Boston menu items are already on La Morra’s main menu, so diners know what to expect during the meal. And second, instead of a three-course Dine Out Boston menu, La Morra offers a traditional four-course Italian meal. That’s right – four courses for $38.
The meal consists of an antipasti course (salads and soups), a primi course (pastas), a secondi course (main entrees) and of course, a dolci course (dessert). La Morra doesn’t skimp so expect a lot of food on your plate – making it perfectly acceptable to split with your dining partner.
But of course, I didn’t split anything. My dining partner and I tasted two dishes for each course and concluded our favorites. My first course, the barley salad, was surprisingly delicious. The name may not have much appeal for you, but trust me – the taste and texture of the salad would appeal to anyone. It was accompanied with pickled pearl onions, roasted beets, walnuts, kumquats and gorgonzola. If you’re a fan of beets then I highly recommend this starter.
If you’re a fan of seafood, then I recommend the pasta with rock crab sugo, golden clams, carrots, leeks and poached salsify. This primi course dish was so good that I almost slurped it down. And for the pasta lovers out there – we also recommend going for the Orecchiette with brussel sprouts, walnut pesto and peccorino. It was a bit heavy on the pesto but that’s always A-okay with me.
Needless to say, we finished all of the above dishes.
For my entree course, I tried the grilled cornish hen “under a brick” with smoked pepper sauce, chickpea fries and sauteed spinach. It was so tasty that I found myself dipping the warm chickpea fries into the smoked pepper sauce to finish it off. Unfortunately, my camera died out of nowhere after the secondi course. So, I apologize for not having a photo of this savory dish.
After three courses, I was about to pop. But I powered through to taste the desserts. I’m biased towards chocolate so my votes goes to their chocolate fudge tart – absolutely divine. The dessert was dense, intense and oh-so-good. Although, anyone who can finish that deserves a prize.
Happy Dine Out Boston, everyone!
Food images via author; Top image via website
